#and either getting more intrigued bc that would work

[diangelodork]

DBDA nightly analysis #21!

tonight’s topic: edwin payne and touch/charles is most of the reason he can touch people

edwin payne struggles with touch. this is not something that affects him much with charles, likely because of the exposure therapy that over thirty years of being best mates and business partners with someone who’s love language is touch and you are quite LITERALLY the only person/thing he can really touch creates, but i still think it is an indisputable fact about his character.

though i, as an autistic person, 100% head cannon edwin to be autistic, i acknowledge that steve yockey has stated that he was not WRITTEN to be this way. this being said, i recognize a lot of my own characteristics in edwin, most of which relate to my autism. though he is not canonically autistic, i will be writing about him as if he is (because i truly believe that he is, in my own interpretation and that of many others within the fandom). take that with you in this analysis.

i don’t think edwin was ever excessively touchy. we see one scene of him pre-hell and i simply cannot imagine that he was one to show much physical affection, not to mention that it would have been uncommon to do so in this time and region. on top of this, lots of autistic people are sensitive to sensory stimulation, touch commonly being portrayed when looking at media surrounding autistic characters. even if he had been in any way touchy, he was certainly turned off of touch after hell. this is not only because trauma and the constant feeling of being hunted for close to a century has trained him to be on edge and to jump at every contact or noise, but because the last bit of touch he got before being sacrificed to a literal demon was when he was wrestled from his bed and tied down to a table. that, alongside the watching-himself-get-murdered-a-million-times thing would’ve made it monstrously hard to find comfort in touch, or rather, to not be afraid of it.

i think this affects him in many other ways, as well. we don’t see him being as perceptive once he’s with charles because that is decidedly something charles is very good at, but maybe it’s also the same reason he’s not a fighter. he could be, if he needed to be, but he doesn’t. not anymore. regardless, his posture is very stiff and his head always held high, rigid in his movement. maybe this is just because he was a high class edwardian citizen in his life, but it’s likely to be a mix of both that and the fact that he had to take in so much information in hell. he had to be perceptive. though standing tall increases visibility (clearly bad for hiding), it also makes it easier to notice things. to see more. to hear more.

there is decidedly not a moment where charles touches him in the montage of their first meeting, interestingly enough for such a touchy character seeking comfort in this moment. either way, edwin’s posture remains far more rigid than we see of him later, bc he’s straight outta hell.

in E1, it is evident that he and charles are close, even if we discuss only contact. charles pushes him through the mirror, they have a moment where they play fight when trying to get him to box (he seems a bit uncomfortable here, but only when charles really gets in his face and it is not nearly to the extent that we see later and with other people), they exchange causal touches (nearly if not all initiated by charles, but not uncomfortable in nature for edwin), etc.

one could even make the argument that his ability to warm up to niko so quickly that she is touching and hugging him in a matter of episodes, but you must keep in mind how much of a sudden kinship he feels with her. he loves charles and he is his other half, but here is a girl that is so intriguing in nature and so kind and fucking strange and her brain seems to work similarly to his (cause she’s autistic too, literally fight me) and that’s not even mentioning that charles has made touch easier for him through the slow ramping up of it of over decades.

though it might seem that crystal is sort of the “exception” to his general okay-ness with touch, i think it is the opposite. it isn’t about crystal in specific, it’s about the connection he has already cultivated with charles as well as the immediate bond that overtakes him and niko. granted, he doesn’t super like her very much because of his own jealousy, but i think that’s how he would be generally with anyone but niko and charles for the reasons i have already listed. it is rather unfortunate that the exceptions happen to be more common in their sphere of friendship.

this may feel, in the fandom and in the show, like it’s still that jealousy or anger or hatred or frustration or something else towards crystal, but i’ve mentioned before that he is much more comfortable with her from Eps 5 and on. the reason he stiffens when she hugs him and wishes only to shake her hand no longer has much to do at all with the contempt he once felt, and all to do with his own relationship with touch that doesn’t come from his best mate or the only person who’s ever matched his freak like this.

now, does touch simon when in hell, but i fear that this is, again, another exception. he is just now realising that his murderer is not only in hell, but that he is there because of him and his punishment is fucking bullshit. he is angry. he is seeking revenge. he is seeking to make him hurt just like he did over a century ago. being faced with it when he meets despair forces him to realise that he does not want to be that person. he must treat him in kind. he holds his face and comforts him when he confesses fears and shame and guilt so similar to his own all that time ago. he has only just made the strides to understand that he needn’t hate himself and he must relay this information to someone who felt that same way, not only in hell, but in life. they were there, together, in st. hillarion’s. in the 1910s. forced to hate themselves and anything that reminded them of themselves. edwin has gotten to see the modern world and see that life does not need to be pain.

it’s so, so important to me that he holds simon’s face here.

why?

because if this show does nothing else well (which is not true), the thing it undoubtedly excels in is parallels.

because this

to THIS???

it kills me every time.

he learns to be as okay with touch as he is because of charles. he learns to use it to comfort others just as charles does it to comfort him. he still doesn’t like touch outside of charles and niko, but this is a moment of great emotion and he needs to make a sacrifice.

he is comforted in the same way he comforted simon, by the boy who taught him how.

he was probably never touched much and never viewed it as a comfort, but charles taught him what it could be.

this is the same reason, imo, that it stings so bad when charles refuses to let edwin touch him after fighting off tnn in E4. it took so long to warm up to it and now he sees the benefits, he sees why people do this, he finally takes comfort in it. here is his person in need of comfort and edwin tries to reach out and provide it in the way he taught him works best for him and he acts like he was burned.

anyway i’m sensitive to both touch AND rejection (+ i project onto edwin an UNHEALTHY amount), can ya tell???

[baekuras]

ladies and gentleman we back to "crying at 5am on a worknight-when will it ever stop?!" and i am sure my period being like a week away is not helping, even tho this feels more like general dread and helplessness and frustration and general mid 20s angst and not more usual pre-period drama it's not making this any better and i am mostly annoyed and angry between sobs....which is an interesting mix of emotions but not unusual

[misspickman]

cassierose for the ship ask game !!

Ship It

What made you ship it? i liked them in tt03, which you know, is truly a feat considering how terribly that comic treats both of them. but their dynamic (angry homoeroticism) managed to be compelling still

What are your favorite things about the ship? i enjoy girl antagonism from time to time. i know were all sick of the trope that teen girls all hate each others guts but considering cassie has a pretty good relationship with all the other girls on her team(s) its fun to see her just go ugh i hate this one. this one can go. theyre just fun and bitchy and i think they should hatefuck about it. but beside that theres also so much potential there ! i think you know, if anyone writing that comic actually cared about cassie or rose or about their character development, it would have been interesting to see their relationship change over time instead of getting one issue where cassie implicitly calls rose family while protecting her, and then the next one she immediately she calls her a manipulative psychopath for no good reason bc they cant figure out how to make the team interesting without having some wildly antagonistic relationship that doesnt make sense if u think about it for a few seconds. theyre never going to be besties but it would have been nice to see them go from blind hate to an uneasy truce; they dont like each other but they do, unfortunately, care about each other, and lets see where we go from that. + itd be interesting to dig into cassies hypocrisy when it comes to hating rose

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship? i guess its that i would like them to grow past mindlessly despising each other ? this is not me criticizing anyone but i feel like a lot of takes on cassierose ive seen are that they should stay in the hatefucking no mushy business❌❌❌phase which is definitely fair and true to how they are in tt03. but i do have some issues with the way they were written in tt03 (particularly cassie) and would like to see their dynamic progress from that (see rant above)

[strwberri-milk]

May I please request the LnDs boys with a reader who does NOT want children? Maybe something about how that discussion would go and/or what a child-free domestic life may look like with them.

the ONLY children ask i will take bc i do NAWT want kids and never understood the desire for surprise pregnancy endings in books - so this def has my inherent bias of "please do not impregnate me ty" - but also reader is still gn theres no mention on how you'll have children

Despite his own personal preferences, he's always known that his desire for children is directly contingent on your desire for kids. If you don't want kids, he doesn't want kids. If you do want kids, he'll come around to it. But, because it's not something he's devoted to wanting, the two of you have to be on the same page for him to consider having children with you.

You were nervous about bringing up the idea of no kids to Zayne because, in some aspects, you thought he'd be the sort of guy who wants to take care of his family - which includes some bundles of joy. You tell him that you understand if he can't accept that, expecting him to leave you when he tells you that it's not a problem to him. He doesn't want to force you to have children just because it's something he may want because he wants you far more.

Zayne likes the idea of children but not enough to ask if you'd change your mind. He's also glad in a sense that you don't want kids because he doesn't have to try and worry about how to make his schedule accommodate having a little one at home. It makes things easier for the two of you and that means that the days he has off can be days he spends with you and no other worries. He really needs the time to relax so you two grow quite accustomed to quiet datenights at home, something that stays consistent in your relationship to keep the spark in your relationship despite hectic schedules.

You weren't sure how Xavier would react because you had no idea what his stance on children could be. He doesn't really talk about his own childhood or react really to kids in any way that could give you a hint. You bring it up to him carefully, giving him the room to tell you his opinion.

Xavier wasn't too keen on the idea of having kids for no particular reason. The thought just didn't really intrigue him. Your life doesn't really change with or without kids - it just means the two of you get to have even more time together and have fun playing games with each other all evening without worrying about work for a bit.

Rafayel's never expressed wanting children but you've seen the way he is with kids. He's kind and gentle, taking his time to teach them things even if he claimed at first that he wasn't really too keen on working with them. You thought that he'd be stricter, or at least a little unable to teach them but somehow it comes naturally to him. He even lets them mess with him, giving nothing more than a good natured pout.

You worry that he'll leave you for it, confessing quietly that you don't want kids. He just shrugs and tells you that it doesn't really matter to him. If you don't want children, then the two of you won't have children - it's that simple to him. Besides, he doesn't know if he'd be a good solo dad. I still headcanon that Lemurians practise communal child rearing so Rafayel wouldn't really be sure how to approach being one of two primary parents without having a big support circle around him. He'd definitely learn with time but it intimidates him a little.

Ultimately, children aren't on his docket and he has other things to worry about. Plus, despite the fact that you think he'd be a great dad he knows that his habit of disregarding his personal health and the concept of time isn't something that would be conducive to parenthood.

Sylus doesn't really want children either. He doesn't say anything like that around you but when you bring it up to him he tells you that he's on the same page. His life is far too risky and he's already exhausted looking out for you on a constant basis so he knows that adding children into the mix would make things even more complicated.

He reassures you that his mind won't change just because things get safer or what have you. To him, the fact that he's not 100% on either side is enough for him to not have children. Things stay the same but if you want him to he'd still do things in a safer manner if it means giving you peace of mind, not because of the hope of children further down the line.

[sansaorgana]

Hiiiii! If you like either version I'd like to request a Benny fic with a Reader who works at some place he frequesnts bc of getting in trouble 🙄🙃

My first thought would be the hospital/doctors office but police or lawyer related jobs could be another option too

hi, love! thank you so much for the request 🥰 I chose a police station where Reader is not a cop but jut a girl sitting by the desk, kinda like Lucy from Twin Peaks 😉

⚠️ TW ⚠️ Reader is coming back home late at night and she is bothered by some guys

I had to close my requests for now because I got so many 🙏🏻

You shook your head with a coffee cup in your hand at the sight of a man being walked inside the police station. He was cuffed behind his back as two big policemen were pushing him by his shoulders.

“Hi, (Y/N),” he winked at you as he walked past your desk. “How are you today?”

“Great, Mr. Cross. You?” You teased him as you addressed him officially.

“Not so good,” he chuckled with a shake of his head and the policemen pushed him to walk faster as they escorted him to his cell.

Benjamin Cross. You knew all his personal information by heart now. You knew his ID number more than your own. Working at the police station was never boring and you had your favourites amongst the Chicago criminals but Benny Cross was definitely your favourite. He had that bad boy charm and sexy mystery behind those baby blue eyes. He reminded you of a wild lion with his golden beard and blond hair. He was a biker – a man of the road, a personification of freedom. Well, hardly, to be honest. Because he was spending way too many nights in the cell for a man loving freedom so much.

Another thing you knew by heart was the phone number to the club where his friends worked. It was the phone call he always wanted to make so you dialled it already after putting the coffee cup down.

“Hi,” you said after some man with an unpleasant voice answered. “It’s the police station. Your friend Benny’s here again,” you informed him.

“Thanks,” he only said and hung up on you.

One of the policemen that had been dragging Benny now approached your desk and dropped a few files on it with a sigh.

“Cross, Benjamin,” he told you and you rolled your eyes.

“I know,” you laughed. “What again?”

“Speed limit. Caused a few crushes,” the man explained. “If I see his face once again, I’m gonna turn it to pulp, I swear.”

“No, don’t,” you giggled and he shook his head.

“Women,” he commented and walked away.

You put the papers aside and fixed your skirt before standing up to go to see Benny. You walked past the cells until you spotted him laying on the bed in an empty cell at the end of the corridor. He had used to be locked with other men but he had been starting fights and since then he was given a single cell.

“I called your friends already,” you told him as you leaned on the metal bars and he raised an eyebrow at you with a smug smile.

“Thanks, doll.”

“You must like it here, huh?” You asked, playfully.

“Well, I don’t hate it,” he answered. “As long as you work here,” he added and sat up on the bed to lean back on the wall. “Can you get me a cigarette?”

“I can,” you sighed and walked back to your desk.

It was confusing, really. The way you liked him although you shouldn’t. The way you enjoyed his teasing and his flirting although you knew he probably was like that with half of the city. And if it was any other man, you would tell him to go to hell. But Benny was already coming from there. And he was making you feel intrigued about it.

You grabbed a pack of cigarettes and a lighter that you kept in your desk. You took one cigarette out of the pack and went back to his cell. He was waiting for you by the bars and you passed the cigarette and the lighter to him. He lit it and gave you back the lighter as he looked deep into your eyes.

“Thanks, angel face,” he nodded.

“No problem,” you shrugged your arms. “You think they gonna bail you out?”

“Yeah, they always do,” Benny sat on the bed again and leaned back on the wall.

“Okay. I’ll prepare the papers then,” you pointed at your desk with your thumb and walked away.

You worked on them for some time and stared at the clock on the wall. Your shift would be over soon and Benny’s friends weren’t showing up at all. You started to feel bad for him. What if this time they stood him up? It wouldn’t surprise you – after all, they had already spent quite a lot of money on him. And perhaps this time was one too many.

“Hey,” you approached the cell again. He was laying on the bed with his hands under his head as he was staring at the ceiling. He lazily looked up at you. “I’m going home soon. I don’t think your friends are comin’ tonight.”

“They’ll come,” he only said.

“Well, whatever you say. Good night,” you looked down, awkwardly.

You went back to your desk to pick your things up and looked behind you one last time while biting on your lower lip. But what did you expect, really? He was a criminal and you were working at the police station. You shook your thoughts away and left the moment you saw your friend walking in – her shift was just starting.

When you came back to work on the next day, Benny was not in the cell anymore. His friends had bailed him out at night. You were glad that he didn’t have to rot there but it was making you feel a bit sad that he was gone for now. For some reason you missed him already.

He didn’t even like you, did he? Well, he was flirting here and there but he wasn’t very talkative when you were trying to engage in conversations. Or maybe that was a part of his bad boy persona to be a man of a few words. Either way, he was messing with your head and you didn’t like it. It was not like you had a chance with him. And not like he had a chance with you… After all, you were a respectable woman.

God, why were you even thinking of such things? It was not like he was thinking of you the same way. He probably wasn’t thinking of you at all.

On that day you worked until late and it was dark already when you finished. You ran to the bus station but the last bus had already left without you in it. You didn’t live away but you feared taking a walk in the dark. However, you had to.

You fixed your jacket and started to walk down the street, turning around all the time to make sure no one was walking behind you. But after a while you spotted two men walking ahead of you. You wanted to cross the street but they already spotted you.

One of them whistled and you kept your head low, walking past them as they stopped and looked you up and down.

“Hey,” one of them suddenly pointed out. “Isn’t she that bitch working at the police station?”

You swallowed thickly. You recognised that voice. It was one of the men that were being arrested often. Kind of like Benny… Except this guy was not one of your favourites. He was actually a man you feared. He had been often threatening the cops and everyone working at the station to teach them a lesson one day.

You picked up your pace as you tried to walk faster and faster, you nearly ran.

“Hey, wait! You’re not running away!” You heard his voice and the heavy footsteps following you.

You were in such a rush and fear that you didn’t care anymore about anything else – the only thing that mattered was to survive. The ringing in your ears made all the other noise inseparable and you didn’t look around before entering the street to cross it.

And then you spotted a huge motorbike right in front of your face. It stopped inches away from you as you jumped in your place and swallowed thickly. Its reflectors were blinding you at first but after blinking a few times, you spotted it was Benny on his motorbike. He looked terrified, too, with widened eyes and hands clutched onto his motorbike’s handlebar. He had just nearly killed you after all and it was all your fault.

“I… I’m so sorry…” You began to apologise and you looked behind you. The man who had been threatening you and his friend were standing on the pavement and watching the scene.

“They been following you, doll?” Benny asked as he pointed at them with his head.

You nodded, shyly. Benny sighed and parked the bike by the pavement. He stopped the engine and jumped on his feet. You felt safer now with him around.

“Go home,” he looked at you sternly.

“But…” You gasped. It felt bad to just leave him here alone with these guys. Benny was a tough cookie but these two were dangerous as well. And they had the advantage since there were two of them.

“I said, go,” Benny ordered. You nodded and hurried back home, too scared to look back.

You couldn’t sleep at night, tossing and turning. In the morning you called the police station and told them you were sick. You were scared of leaving the house, actually. After last night’s accident… You had no idea what would happen if Benny hadn’t been around. What a coincidence it had been, by the way… And what had actually happened? Had he won the fight? Had there been a fight at all? What if the guys had won, hurt him and now they were waiting for you to show up on the streets?

You waited for everyone from your family to go to work before you walked downstairs and prepared breakfast. You didn’t want them to see you in such a state because they’d start asking questions and you didn’t want to worry anyone.

Around ten, you were already after breakfast and you took a quick shower. You changed into comfortable clothes and sat by the TV, not planning to leave the house at all for the whole day.

When someone knocked upon the door, you were startled. The very first thing that came to your mind was that these two criminals had found you. With a heavy heart and trembling hands, you approached the TV set to turn it off. Trying to avoid passing the windows, you carefully approached the front door and shakily looked through the peephole. You sighed with relief at the sight of Benny Cross leaning on the doorframe. There was a bruise on his face but other than that, he looked fine.

You opened the door and he looked you up and down as if he was checking on you.

“Benny. How do you know where I live?” You asked.

“Why aren’t you at work?” He raised his eyebrows.

“How do you know?”

“‘Cuz I been sitting across the street all night long, making sure they wouldn’t come around,” he explained and pointed at his motorbike parked across the street.

“What?” You widened your eyes.

“I saw your folks leavin’ but not you. You okay?” He asked, worryingly.

“Scared,” you admitted and hugged yourself as the cold from the outside was starting to bother you. Then you realised he had been standing out there all night long. “Come in,” you invited him in.

A criminal that had been in your arrest countless times before. Your mother would kill you if she was there. But she wasn’t.

“Wanna eat something? Drink?” You asked him awkwardly as he was looking around.

“Well…” He started. “A sandwich would be nice. And a cup of coffee.”

“Sure,” you nodded and took him to the kitchen. You sat him by the kitchen table and began to prepare the meal for him. “What happened yesterday?” You asked.

“I taught ‘em a lesson. They shouldn’t bother you anymore. But I wanted to make sure they’d keep their word,” he answered casually and yawned. You smiled to yourself.

“You didn’t have to do this…”

“And let them hurt you?” Benny snorted and you pursed your lips.

“It was a miracle you were there. I don’t know what I’d do if you…” your hands started to shake as you dropped the knife you were spreading the butter with. You pressed the hand to your forehead and stood there, trying to catch a breath again. The flashes of the last night came back to you and you fought the tears.

Benny stood up carefully and stood behind you, not knowing what to do to cheer you up without crossing your boundaries.

“Hey, it was no miracle, (Y/N). I’m always there. I mean, whenever I can. I’m always driving around to make sure you make it home safe. That’s how I know where you live. I heard some guys talking one day when I was arrested, they were talking about you in a way that made me realise it’s not safe for you because of your work, so yeah…” He cleared his throat, scared that he accidentally revealed too much.

You lowered your hand and looked at him, surprised.

“You… You do all these things?” You couldn’t believe it.

“Yeah,” he nodded and hid his hands into the pockets of his trousers.

“But… why?”

Benny didn’t know what to answer. He shrugged his arms and watched your face.

“You’re nice to me,” he pointed out.

“Thank you,” you smiled gently and went back to preparing the sandwich. “Do you… Do you want something in return? I owe you,” you told him as he sat down by the table again.

“Nah, I’m fine,” Benny leaned on the wall and watched you serve him breakfast. “I mean, the sandwich and the coffee are enough, thanks.”

You sat in front of him and watched him devour his meal in three big bites. You played nervously with your fingers.

He cared more about you than you had been expecting. It felt nice and surprising and… It was messing with your head even further now.

“Thanks once again. I’ll go home now, need some sleep,” he stood up and you looked up at him with puppy eyes, to which he froze and raised his eyebrows.

“You saved my life,” you whispered.

“It’s nothing, really.”

“To me it’s everything,” you swallowed a lump in your throat. 

Short and awkward silence occurred between you two. Benny looked around as if he was contemplating on something. Eventually, he offered you his hand, which you hesitantly took and felt him pull you up. You stood up and faced him before he cupped your face and joined your lips together in a kiss.

Your eyes widened and at first you didn’t kiss him back out of shock. But after a short while, you closed your eyes and gave in. You placed your hands flat on his chest as you opened your mouth to let his tongue in.

You had always wondered what he would kiss like and it was even better than all your fantasies. It was overwhelming, really. His strength, his smell, his taste, the small groan he let out from the depth of his throat. You moaned in response and Benny’s hands dropped down to your waist and then lower, to your ass as he squeezed it. You giggled without breaking the kiss but he moved away slightly anyway to catch his breath.

“Benny…” You smirked at him and fixed your hair nonchalantly.

“Yeah?” He asked, unsurely, scared of your reaction to the kiss.

“You don’t have to keep getting arrested to meet with me, you know?”

MASTERLIST || BENNY MASTERLIST

[z0mb1epuzzy]

Vox relationship hcs !! SFW & NSFW (Gender Neutral)

SFW:

Warnings: Val mentioned. (joking)

- Vox is obviously a guy who needs some validation, he won’t admit it - but the second you tell him how handsome he looks or how good a job he did on the air that day, you notice his mood is overall… better.

- Naturally the other V’s will still be involved in Vox’s life. Velvette adores you, probably treating you like a friend who just happens to be dating her coworker more than anything. Valentino seems relatively indifferent, he tried his little flirting routine once or twice, but the second Vox snapped at him for it (Yk that scene where he gets all up in his face and says “VAL”? yeah, that type of snap) he backed off, promising you some “good work” if things didn’t work out between you and vox.

- In terms of your actual relationship, the parts that go on behind closed doors and whatnot, he’s a lot softer than one may expect. Once he drops the whole “hotshot celebrity overlord” act, he’s shockingly.. sweet? He secretly enjoys just spending time cuddling you. (his head on your chest? your head on his? he honestly doesn’t mind either way.)

- If he ever catches you eyeing something in public, he always finds a way to get it for you. You mention a shirt you thought was cute? Suddenly he’s bringing you home said shirt in a nicely wrapped little box. He calls it a “lucky coincidence.” (all he wants is to make you happy, so a couple hundred dollars in whatever knickknacks make you smile is nothing.)

- still not over the alastor thing.

NSFW: (the part you’re probably here for)

Warnings: NSFW (ofc), vibrating dick?, semi public, oral, some little sprinkles of power bottom vox, masochism(?)

Kinks - masochism (biting, scratching, whatever), dacryphilia (loves fucking you to tears bc i said so), DEGRADATION (giving, not receiving), praise (mutual), semi-public, maybe some temp play?

- Oh, your poor holes. all of them. The second this man gets off work and you hear him grumbling under his breath? just know you’re probably gonna have jello legs for a few hours (minimum.)

- Vox probably has a pretty high sex drive, not quite as high as someone as angel, but after a tough day at work, dealing with whatever bullshit man - tantrum val had, having some kind of annoying glitch with his systems, whatever is enough to irritate him.

- If you ever come and visit him on one of those days, thinking it would be a fun idea to visit him at work and maybe tease him a little, just prepared to be fucked over a desk or against a wall. he has no patience.

- If you’re someone with fem reproductive bits, be prepared because sometimes this man does NOT have the patience for a condom. (pullout game is awesome though, so that’s a plus)

- on a good day, a day where he gets to spend his time with you alone, no work or distractions, he will take his time with you. On days where he can take his time and go nice and slow with you, running his nice sharp fingers over your thighs, (maybe using some of that electricity to give you little shocks…if you’re into that) telling you how beautiful (or handsome ofc) you are, just really nice foreplay…. before you’re inevitably destroyed by his cock. (and yes, it vibrates.)

- PRAISE+DEGRADATION. “You’re such a good fucking slut for me, you know that?” or “My good fucking whore.” type shit

- He’d absolutely love receiving head, though… for obvious reasons GIVING it may be a bit complicated. When you give it though, vox WILL melt for you, groaning and cursing under his breath, when he gets close he can’t help but grab your head and face-fuck you, pulling you off his cock last minute to release onto your face (if you’re okay with that - he’s fine with your mouth too.)

- This man is fully willing to pound the everliving soul out of you if you’ll let him, but if you ever decided to take control for a night…. he’d act opposed, but you can see the intrigue on his face. (definitely ends up blue-screening) when this man is on the bottom he gets LOUD, though he’d probably get pissed off and take control again if you teased him enough.

[cormorant-red]

I played 999 recently at @xivu-arath's recommendation, and I had so much fun that (inspired by that one polygon video) I illustrated my liveblog about it!

If you haven't played 999 and you are even a little bit intrigued by a puzzle/mystery visual novel with multiple timelines that all guide you towards wild plot twists...probably don't read the text! 999 is the kind of story that is best experienced with no knowledge besides the basic premise.

Transcript below the cut:

Cormorant: characters in this game really just say shit like "have you heard the story about the crystallization of glycerin?"

as a matter of fact i haven't, june, please enlighten me

Storm: "I know we're stuck in a freezer but. let's talk about weird mythical science!"

Cormorant: it's also killing me that junpei is dressed like marty mcfly and isn't sharing any of his jackets

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Cormorant: this game is leading me to arrive at mathematical concepts on my own. what the heck

Storm: kshgushhsg

I take it you're having a good time then

Cormorant: trying to check lotus's work and it turns out that no matter what group i arrange to take through a door, the people left behind will always have the same digital root

so to get through door 7 with snake missing, i could either send a group with sum 16 (junpei, ace, clover, and june) or with sum 25 (clover, june, seven, and lotus), but it doesn't matter because the remainder always have root 9 and can't get through doors 3 or 8! wild!

Storm: yeah the numbers and which doors end up barred to you is so cleverly deliberate

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Cormorant: i'm glad i finally checked what novel mode meant, because this is way more fun

Santa cocked his head to one side, like an inquisitive bird, and looked at them.

After several long moments, during which it became apparent that Santa had no idea what the cards meant, June took pity on him.

i'll have to go back and redo the beginning after i get to the first ending

Storm: oh yeah! as I recall that was done differently when it was originally a dual screen game... but it's much better when in novel style. gimme all the descriptions

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Cormorant: I had a long day of sitting though presentations and so I entertained myself by calculating digital roots

I discovered that adding 9 or any multiple of 9 to a number has no effect on the digital root, which is awfully interesting bc I got to the part where snake gets killed. Assuming door 3 was opened with 12 and not 21, the options are 7+3 (motive?), 6+4 (they’d both have to be REALLY good actors), or 9+1. And if bracelets work without a body attached, and if ace picked it up in door 5…

That would be a really useful tool to get around the 3-person minimum without altering the digital root

I’m also very intrigued by the theory that zero is also in the game but I don’t know what to do with that yet

Storm: forlornly having to keep myself from saying literally anything

Cormorant: Understandable, please don’t give me any hints! I’m just calling shots for the joy of being wrong

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Cormorant: and how do you know that, my traitorous friend?

Santa: “The RED doesn’t need a person, you know.”

Santa: “All I need is the bracelet.”

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Cormorant: y’know what i think he’s bluffing. he does need June specifically and that’s why he refused to consider leaving her when they first found door 9. if all he needed was a hostage, he could have grabbed junpei and forced ace to come along, and then he would be dealing with two people under duress instead of three

i peeked at a guide and apparently i found the ending adjacent to the true ending(?) first, oh well. time to see the others!

santa: i said i don't want to leave seven alone

me: bud you can't do a heroic sacrifice too, it'll mess up all the math

reader, he was not doing a heroic sacrifice

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Storm: got any character opinions or theories to share so far?

Cormorant: hmm I’ve got soft spots for santa and lotus maybe just because they were in the first group I went with. I like that the game makes a point of showing that lotus is quick with the math/technical knowledge. I warmed up to clover and seven more than I expected to! I have no evidence to mistrust ace….but I don’t trust him

Snake died before I before I could say two words to him

Or…didn’t. Forgot clover said he didn’t

I got info about the previous experiments from clover and I wonder if we’re like…reenacting the past somehow? Experiencing morphogenetic resonance with the last voyage?

Again no evidence i just wonder where the pseudoscience is going

Storm: santa was so my type as soon as I started playing that I just picked all rooms with him on my first run skugrhsghu

Cormorant: AHAHA that makes me feel better about going “yeahhh door 4 I like the cut of this guy’s jib”

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Cormorant: “the bracelet comes off when your heart rate reaches zero” interesting then that we’ve brought up cryostasis

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Cormorant: i simply don't trust him not to have a spare bracelet in his pocket!!!

They climbed into the elevator and Junpei listened to it creak and rattle its way to the bottom deck. Only Junpei, Ace, and Lotus were left.

As the elevator rumbled out of sight, Ace spoke.

Ace: “Lotus, would you be so kind as to go with me?”

Cormorant: “bad end” YEAH I’LL SAY

Storm: lkksghr yeah there's a few of those!

Cormorant: santa was really quick to declare that he, june, and seven needed to go with clover. waht's his game

june and ace could have done it just as easily

Storm: they could have! good catch

maybe he just thinks seven is cooler than ace,

Cormorant: i'm imagining clover taking all her grisly trophies to the door only to find it already engaged, because lotus needed no persuading,

and regarding the true ending requirements, it's also funny that santa's like "i hate this bookmark! get it out of my sight!" and this is a huge help in junpei befriending the girl who's otherwise about to snap

Storm: load bearing bookmark

Cormorant: good thing you threw that tantrum bud or you would have been killed with an axe

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Cormorant: in my suspicions i forgot a critical detail, which is that he didn't actually go into the door with the body this time

of course seven has been propping doors open, so it really could have been anybody

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Cormorant: "where have these 16 boys and girls disappeared to?" eight for each game and then an experimenter? again with the idea that zero might be in the game...

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Cormorant: bad endings complete! on to the normal ending, which hopefully has less of junpei getting stabbed to death

puzzling over who could have done all those murders, especially in the sub ending...or did everyone get killed? clover thinks that snake's death was faked. or did snake do all the murders, since he was the only one unaccounted for?...and then i remember what kind of game i'm playing. can't discount the ice mummy as a suspect.

Storm: you truly cannot ignore the possibility of the ice mummy

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Cormorant: ah no, so santa's sister was the kid that died...

i can't figure out the connection between events! why did the last games have the veneer of a science experiment, while this one has no context given? why was it all kids last time, and a random mix of ages this time, with some repeat subjects?

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Cormorant: called it!!!!

Junpei: “Ace, Guy X, and the 9th Man’s bracelet.”

Junpei: “That was all you needed to open door [3].”

Cormorant: called it before i even got to an ending ehehe

what i’ve been saying!!

Ace: “(9) is a potent ally in the Nonary Game.”

Ace: “Adding (9) to any set of numbers won’t alter the digital root.”

Ace: “As you can see, (9) is a very useful number here.”

Ace: “With it, one can go anywhere, with anyone.”

Ace: “It is, I suppose you could say, a game changer.”

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Cormorant: okay, normal ending finished! junpei did not get stabbed but we also didn’t resolve much…I’m now thinking that ace with his pocket drugs could have easily played dead in the sub ending

glad to see that snake is okay and hopefully can stay okay in the true ending. where did clover get that riddle, and will she still have it?

0=6. how much do I read into this

still don’t understand how we get from here to santa hostage situation. he’s been so consistent about not even considering betraying or abandoning people, so either he’s a better actor than ace…or it’s staged. are he and june in cahoots

Storm: augh so close now!! soon I can actually say things

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Cormorant: O FUCK

Seven: “Santa’s always in the room with her. That’s what you’re saying, isn’t it?”

Snake: “Yes, that’s right.”

Clover: “What about it…?”

Snake: “That’s quite simple, really.”

Snake: “You told me that the first time you came to this room…”

Snake: “…Santa was the first to refuse to leave June behind.”

Snake: “Now, doesn’t that beg the question “why?” Why would Santa do such a thing?”

Snake: “The answer is easy.”

Storm: B)

Cormorant: i've been thinking of them as a pair because it makes the math easier! if you've got 3 + 6 + 8, just cross out the ones that make 9 and don't even bother with the addition, your root is 8

Storm: B) B) B)

Cormorant: but god!! they are a pair, do not separate (or the jig is up)

Storm: they hid it soooo well

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Cormorant: was wondering when we would see the last cradle guy and oh duh, he was guy X

i did think it was odd that santa phrased it as "i need to leave two of you behind" rather than "i need three of you to come with me," but if he was responsible for everything (most things?), he knew that snake was there, and he was setting up a group that could follow him. excited to see where this is going!

[dreamy sigh] this game is so elegant. what a little puzzle box

Storm: yeah it is, it's just so wonderfully crafted. so little is wasted!

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Cormorant: oh boy [akane vision label]

"through the morphic fieldset we were resonant, and we were as one" i don't think i've mentioned it before but i'm constantly pleasantly surprised by the narration in this game. it's not flashy but it's evocative in a way that's really working for me

Storm: this is where the port falls short a bit of the original version... the ds really worked well with this aspect

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Cormorant: the number of times i thought "this will be totally wrong but i'll say it to storm anyway"

hello??? [arrow pointing back to the message “I wonder if we’re like…reenacting the past somehow? Experiencing morphogenetic resonance with the last voyage?”]

Storm: Y E A H

Cormorant: laser-guided spitballing

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Cormorant: man i said that 4+6 would have to be really good actors if they were the ones that opened door 3...and while they didn't kill snake, i sure underestimated our queen of the stage akane kurashiki

the baseline was NOT where i thought it was

Storm: no one does it like her

[strawberrystepmom]

NSFW - MDNI. hyoga x f!reader. reader is an agriculturalist. mentions of breasts and vagina. cw: hyoga is mean. dom/sub dynamics, degradation, he jokingly calls reader a pig bc she works in the fields, male masturbation and making reader watch. uhhhh yeah. this is my new bf 💕 wc 2.6k

Of all the things you considered to be new normals in the world post depetrification, you truly never considered that supervised bathing would be one of them.

Teamwork to make the hard work of living in these times easier? Yes. Hoping your assigned “escort” is keeping his eyes to himself while you dip yourself into the warm water of the hot springs around a mile away from the settlement you live in that calls itself a new country? No.

It’s all for safety and you know it but it doesn’t make it any less mortifying that you were not only paired with a man it just had to be one you find yourself undeniably intrigued by and have for the last several months you’ve been a member of the current strength based empire that reigns.

Unfastening the last of the laces on your dress, you yank the itchy fabric over your head and fold it into a small square. Situating it far enough away from the lip of the natural hot spring it will not get wet, you dip your legs into the water first and the rest of you follows, bare to a rapidly darkening evening and Hyoga’s eyes only. Usually his most trusted warrior would be glowering at you from his side of the spring but she’s suspiciously absent tonight, making you believe she may have been ordered to stay behind.

“You can look now.”

As if he hasn’t been stealing glances every time he has escorted you out here regardless of the presence of Homura or not.

His gaze is difficult to see through the overgrown length of his bangs but you have felt it since the first time it fell on you after you were no longer encased in stone. You know it remained on your back while you disrobed, likely dipping lower than your shoulders. You can feel it now despite it being your turn to avert your gaze while he removes his clothing, removing his boots and loin cloth with little ceremony.

He doesn’t tell you not to look but you feel compelled to give him some semblance of privacy until he gives you permission to ogle. His body is a fine tuned weapon and you’ve been caught glancing at the hardened muscles of his chest and abdomen more than once so sparing yourself the embarrassment of being caught again is the easy decision.

The water splashes up over your breasts and shoulders, the white haired man finally entering the warm water with a groan. He dunks his head completely beneath the water and surfaces quickly, pushing the wet strands back and off of his face.

“You can look now, too.”

The remark is sarcastic and you hum back wryly, eyes drinking in the beauty of the brutal man. You don’t believe anyone else aside from his fellow kingdom rulers have seen him without his mask, an uncovered face, a weakness in his eyes, and it makes you feel important for the briefest moment. Water drops off of his eyelashes and down the slope of his nose, dripping down the full cradle of his Cupid’s bow and finally down his chin.

“You are very bad at hiding your staring problem, dirt dweller.”

The nickname makes you snort, picturing yourself as some kind of tiny mole digging through the now seeded and rudimentarily irrigated fields he watches you work in every single day. You’d much rather be an animal built for this work than the human that you are, not particularly built or suited for labor at all. Your domains are situated so close to one another you can practically recite his drill calls and he can hum the asinine songs you sing while digging and seeding.

You still do the work, though, and this is a treat for your perpetually sore muscles.You spread your arms out on either side of you while sinking a little deeper into the water, your chin dipping into it and big eyes glancing upward and across at the company you’ve been granted.

“Like you should talk. The bangs only hide so much, Hyoga. My eyes are up here.”

Making a fist but sticking your thumb out, you jab upward and you swear that the faintest hint of a smile on his face. Hyoga isn’t the joyful type and that in particular is why it still surprises you he willingly sticks with the duty he was given to follow you around making sure you stay out of trouble. It’s almost as if he enjoys your antics.

“You are incredibly mouthy,” he shoots back and there’s a particular note of warning in his tone that makes you tilt your head to the side. “How nobody sees it besides me is shocking.”

He often has something just edgy enough in his tone when it comes to you that you can tell whatever control he’s keeping when you’re around is slipping. Will it be bad for you when he does? Probably, but at least be able to claim victory.

“Oh, you’re so serious. I’m just messing with you.”

Giggling, you surface from the water and the upper weight of your breasts is exposed in a second. Goosebumps form across your now cooled skin and you reach around your back for the cake of soap you brought with you. Grabbing it, you hold it out in Hyoga’s direction, offering him first chance to get clean.

“You go first, you probably stink more.”

His midnight sky eyes are glued to your petrification scar, the dark line that runs from your throat down the midline of your body and stops at your belly button. It’s jagged but reminds him of the rows you spent weeks tilling by hand, not completely straight and narrow and perfect, but an impressive feat despite the flaws.

You’re impressive despite your flaws is what he actually thinks but he shakes his head to send the thought away and shoots back at your lighthearted joke with a scoff and a sneer.

“Doubt it. Only one of us rolls around in the dirt like a pig all day.”

Gasping, you toss the soap to his waiting and cupped hands and make a face he wants to laugh at. Mouth open, eyes narrowed, nose scrunched - you look truly petulant and he wades through the water toward your direction. You don’t move from your spot, letting him move next to you while lathering soap between his big palms.

“Let me help you,” he mutters and then swipes a soapy hand over your face, wiping it down your cheek and lower onto your jaw and neck. “I’m not so sure you’d know how to do this for yourself, simple thing that you are.”

You don’t stop him or protest and you don’t appear fearful either, his hand gradually slipping down your chin and finally following the petrification scar that slips between the valley of your breasts. Glancing up at him, you watch his eyes grow wide when he once again receives zero resistance against his touch.

Do you want him…no. He can’t afford to think that way no matter how reluctantly interested he finds himself when it comes to you. You don’t care about him, you simply want to be touched, your cheeks turning as pink as the sunset in the distance with each span of your flesh his fingers cross.

He rubs slick soap over your lower abdomen beneath the water and you finally give pause, blinking tightly and sighing. Pausing his exploration, he keeps his hand pressed against the soft give of your skin beneath it but decides to let you speak instead of cupping his hand over your mouth. He could easily do it, after all.

“What do you want from me Hyoga?”

He smirks, his own petrification scars jumping when they do. Small circles and lines around his mouth, framing the fullness of both top and bottom lip so well it’s almost a blinking sign daring you to stare at his lips and to imagine what they’d feel like spitting something besides vitriol in your direction.

Luckily, you’re smart enough to know the vitriol is nothing but bluster, if he wanted you dead or knocked down a peg you would be. Instead he silently asks you permission to keep touching, grabbing, mapping, palm firmly pressed against your waist.

His sigh mirrors your own and in an instant the distance between the two of you gets even shorter, his free hand gripping the lip of the hot spring on one side of your head. Leaning in close, he presses his forehead against yours.

“I should ask you the same.” He should, given the slight way you press your thighs together beneath the water, cunt begging for relief after the little show he has put on. “Nah, I should make you tell me.”

He crowds you against the edge of the spring further, knee angling toward your core and promising relief if you’re simply honest and well behaved, agreeable to giving him what he wants. The hand resting on your belly slides back up your body and grips your chin, delicately enough you’re in no danger but firm enough you know he means it.

“So tell me. What do you want?”

The last several months loop in your memories and you can recall each individual time you realized you may want Hyoga with little effort. He’s violent and mean, cold and crass but there’s something in the way he deals with you that screams “want” very loudly. You don’t have experience with men, at least not very much, but you know when you are desired.

Looking down at you, he realizes how easily he’s captured you but he’s the one who feels more like the fly stuck in your sticky honey. He flaps his wings, desperate for release, but only sinks deeper gazing into your eyes that are so full of desperation for him.

Chuckling, he takes advantage of the grip his fingers have on your chin and he lifts it upward slightly.

“So quiet all of a sudden. That’s unusual.”

You smirk and he raises a brow, wondering what you’re planning. Craning your neck, you push your body forward and your lips brush against his so faintly it could be mistaken for an illusion. He groans and leans in to kiss you again, still gripping your chin but letting his other hand fall to the small of your back to press your chest against his.

He hadn’t given much consideration to how truly weak and defenseless you would be against him until now, his single hand splaying across most of your lower back. He could destroy you.

The kiss ends as it began - wordlessly - and he looks down at you with the same glint in his eyes he has spent months trying to hide.

“Tell me what you want,” he insists and you decide to stop playing coy for a moment.

“What if I want you, Hyoga?”

It’s a possibility he has spent too many frustrating nights thinking about, pacing and fisting his cock to the memory of the breathy way you say his name after a long day of work.

He grins but it lacks the usual cruelty he’s so proud of.

“Then you need to know I only reward good behavior.”

Never one to back away from a challenge, the same irresistible little smirk comes across your face and he fights the urge to squeeze your cheeks between his thumb and forefinger. To make your smirk disappear and your lips pucker, eager to be met by him again but holding back seems like the most responsible option lest someone stumble upon the two of you.

“And who decides what’s good or bad?”

Now it’s his turn to smirk, an incredible show of power while nude and pressed against the body he has spent a borderline obscene amount of time thinking about.

“Me.”

Rolling your eyes, something Hyoga lets you know he doesn’t appreciate with a wag of your chin, you realize he’s serious. Whatever attitude you had drops and your face falls.

“The odds will always be stacked against me if you’re the one deciding them. You already tolerate me at best.”

Chuckling, he shakes his head and his half hard cock brushes against your inner thigh, sending another rush of pink to your cheeks. Blushing like the simple little thing that you are and giving him a headrush at the same time? You are truly a rare gift he has stumbled upon and he groans, rubbing the length against the soft skin beneath it.

“Does that seem like toleration to you?”

Wordlessly, you shake your head and he leans in to kiss you again. It’s as soft as the first time, the gentleness of his lips a contrast to his demeanor and you let yourself dream for a moment that he cares about you and doesn’t just want to fuck you into next week. It’s not like you can pretend it isn’t what you want as well, pressing your body against his and praying for little more of him with each passing second.

“Listen to me and I’ll give you everything you want, understand?”

Nodding pliantly, you wonder how well you will manage to adhere to his standards when your brain isn’t clouded with emotion and lust. You are into Hyoga against your better judgment and while it’s unclear exactly how he feels about you, at least you can both find common ground even if it’s just each other’s bodies. Cooperation and teamwork are how the new world will be run, after all.

“Let’s finish up and go back. They’re probably wondering why we’ve been gone so long.”

Dropping your chin and removing his knee, you whine and he shoots you something akin to a warning glance. Your flesh heats, the absence of his hand leaving behind a burning sensation, the opposite of his cool demeanor. He feels you looking at him, lathering soap between his palms once more to swipe down the rest of your body and part of you feels compelled to offer to do the same for him but he shakes his head when you reach for the soap.

“No.”

The word is a full sentence so you let him swipe his soapy hands across your arms, your breasts, between your legs. His finger brushes against the slickness between your folds and he chuckles, the confirmation he has been searching for dripping from you. His finger brushes against your clit and you whine once more, hips bucking into the pressure. The sensation is gone as quickly as it came and he cups water into his hands to pour it down your body, eyes watching every droplet as it sluices down your form.

You stand still as a statue and he wonders why he didn’t take the chance to do this sooner, cock jumping beneath the water. Satisfied with your cleanliness, he nods to instruct you to get out and contemplates how to best prolong your suffering, lathering up his palm again and putting a distance between the two of you. His hips rest above the water, proud cock standing tall and heavy, and he slowly starts to stroke himself.

“Let’s see how much self control you have,” he taunts from the other side of the spring, fisting his pretty cock while you look on. Your eyes are glued to his every move and he wonders why he ever pictured himself as the fly knowing you are the one who is truly trapped. He just needs to test how far he can push you, stroking again and letting a shaky groan rumble from his chest.

The sun falls the rest of the way and night arrives, Hyoga prepared to deal with whatever heat keeping you away from everyone this long will bring after he’s certain you fully understand the terms and conditions of his offer. He’s in charge here and you will do whatever he pleases, your lower lip tucked between your teeth and eyes glued to his fist.

Maybe this situation will be easier than he expected.

[ruegarding]

hello! I hope your having a good day! If you don't mind me asking, what is your opinion on the Cupid Scene in Hoo? And if you could how would you change it?

my opinion on the cupid scene…well, i don't think a traumatic coming out scene is automatically bad. the problem i have w it is that rick capitalized on shock value instead of good writing. rick retconned a bunch of things to make nico alone and miserable so that he could have this scene, and it was completely unnecessary. ppl can have friends without coming out. and, as i’ve repeatedly said, the way hoo is written is literally a repeat of his arc in pjo but worse, because we’re acting like important events in pjo didn’t happen in a series that’s supposed to be a sequel to pjo and rick is inconsistent so the payoff is questionable.

the solution is…good writing. creating a cohesive and intriguing plotline where this scene is either necessary or scrapped if it isn’t.

thus begins an unnecessarily deep dive into all the retcons, inconsistencies, and general what-the-fuckery of nico’s arc in hoo bc i’m the verbose king and we've accidentally stumbled into something i have a lot to say abt.

first retcon. in son, frank explicitly says that nico does not make him nervous and describes nico as mysterious. not weird, creepy, off-putting, or anything similar. and nico is! he is clearly hiding things and shows up infrequently. this is a neutral description, and frank goes on to say that pluto’s powers, and specifically the underworld, isn’t enough to make him dislike pluto or nico.

also this, showing nico is comfortable enough around frank:

but then in hoh, frank thinks going somewhere with nico, alone, is terrifying.

at worst, frank would’ve felt awkward. they’ve never had to talk alone bc nico is at camp jupiter for hazel and doesn’t have any reason to talk to frank by himself. if frank didn’t want to be alone w nico bc of that, it’d make sense. but that’s not what’s said or implied! and nothing has happened! nico got kidnapped, they saved him, and since then he’s been chilling on the boat, exactly as weird as before, if a little more understandably distressed. like, nothing happened to change frank’s opinion this drastically. even the difference between pluto and hades (wealth vs death) doesn’t matter bc nico uses his powers in son. also frank literally summons a skeleton guy in son and hazel is a zombie, like…

(the source isn’t important but i've been quoting these five seconds for years)

oh! and that’s not all, it gets worse!

these scenes from hoh are incredibly infantilizing. why are we treating nico like a feral dog that needs to be domesticated??? yikes. and once again, it’s not true! nico was fine talking w ppl in pjo (if a bit over-enthusiastic). and then in son he was perfectly civil and was fine having the conversation abt the quest. his issue w ppl was that his powers/parentage put ppl off, and, even in son, that he had to keep a secret.

nico is perfectly capable of speaking like a normal person and working as part of a team (see: final botl battle, final tlo battle, the sword of hades). like, nico’s struggle in hoh should be 1) that ppl are calling him creepy behind his back (and therefore has nothing to do w his social skills) and/or 2) that he just survived an incredibly traumatic experience and is understandably withdrawn. neither of these are properly addressed and instead the implication is that nico is hiding himself bc he’s gay and everything will be solved if he accepts himself.

edit: i never actually explicitly stated this, but nico's queer coding and disability coding overlap, which is why this infantilization/ableism is important enough to highlight despite the conversation specifically being abt the queer aspect of it.

second retcon. percy…as i’ve said many times before, percy explicitly calls nico his friend in tlo.

this immediately makes hoo trying to act like they don’t know each other and were never close a retcon. they were friends, they saw each other frequently, nico made silly jokes w percy…and we’re ignoring all of this in hoo.

i've talked abt this previously (in response to tsats), but nico is the one putting distance between him and percy. percy reached out to nico repeatedly thru pjo.

when percy notices that nico excludes himself, percy finds a private place to talk to nico and assures him that percy wants him around and offers solutions to his discomfort (this is not percy’s responsibility. percy is a child). when nico insists that he won’t stay, percy sees it from nico’s perspective and, instead of forcing nico to do something against his will that may totally backfire, says “i hope we don’t have to be enemies,” leaving room for nico to decide whether he’s willing to be friends.

bc percy understands the root of nico’s issue (that no matter the accommodations made at camp, there’s always going to be the implicit message that he doesn’t belong there), he addresses it and uses his wish to make sure that nico has a home at camp.

and when nico tries to prove he’s useful, percy proves he would’ve invited him in whether nico was or not. bc he thinks nico deserves to be a kid.

“i wonder if [nico] had ever had a birthday party,” percy thinks at his own birthday party where he didn’t invite his friends bc he felt it was too much of an inconvenience, in a story where he never had friends prior to these ppl he didn’t invite, and the only person he had for twelve years of his life was his own mother. and percy uses his own loneliness to empathize w how lonely nico is.

percy is not some distant figure nico is idolizing. he's a kid trying his best to care for another kid at a time where no one else did, while experiencing his own trauma. all of their hang-ups exist bc of that.

going back to their relationship in hoo, even trying to make percy uncomfortable w nico’s powers (and therefore not wanting to associate w nico) doesn’t work bc percy has gone on record and said he thinks some of nico’s powers are cool and has neutral responses to others, not to mention percy is also a big three kid who makes other ppl wary (i could write a whole meta on how what percy finds disturbing w nico’s powers is directly tied to what percy finds disturbing w his own powers, but i’ll restrain myself. please clap).

and if that wasn’t enough, the entire reason percy stood up to hera in botl is bc she was willing to let nico die specifically bc he doesn't fit in bc of those powers.

this plotline was tired before it even began.

you could argue that all of this changed w nico’s betrayal in tlo. but then why didn’t percy tell anybody when it happened in tlo (annabeth would’ve reacted to it if he had)? why did percy trust nico to come when he called? why didn’t any of percy’s animosity come out afterwards at camp? and in the throne room, percy didn’t have to single nico out w his wish. he didn’t have to watch nico to make sure he was settling in. but he did. and because he did, any writing that suggests percy doesn't trust or care abt nico bc of that is bad writing. maybe rick forgot this, but u can be angry w and hurt by the ppl you love and still love them.

even the justification that nico lied in son isn’t good enough to completely change their relationship, bc it’s pretty clear why nico lied and percy says he can’t stay angry at nico when they rescue him, and let me remind u, anger is a core part of percy's character. while nico lying might be enough for characters like leo and jason, who have no rapport w him, to doubt him, it’s not enough for percy. and why are we so obsessed w dismantling percy and nico’s friendship anyway? why is that necessary to the story? like i said before, ppl can have friends without coming out. isolating the only queer character (at the time) isn’t necessary.

this conflict doesn’t even work in hoo bc their distance is still one-sided…

when did percy not give nico a second chance in hoo? the only times they’ve interacted prior to this was when percy remembered nico in son and tried to talk to him and then when they saved his life. and then nico brushes off percy's gratitude and tells him to back off. this is not nico idolizing percy who doesn't care abt him. this is percy reaching out and yet again nico putting distance between them.

and, obviously, this doesn’t work at all w pjo when the entirety of botl exists, you know, where percy chose to trust and protect nico and then went out of his way to make sure nico knew percy held none of nico’s anger against him. it’d be one thing if nico was supposed to be wrong, but considering how there’s an entire arc in hoo abt jason being the first person to trust nico, and tsats seriously acts like percy only ever talked to nico when he needed something, it’s safe to say this comes from a place of stupidity.

ok. this sections getting long, so i moved the it was stupid to have percy give jason a reason to doubt nico section to a new post. but know that i'm aware and i think it's stupid.

back to the point of all these retcons w percy. there's nothing in hoo that necessitates changing percy and nico's relationship from pjo. while percy in hoo is never cruel to nico, they act like strangers for some reason. so, it's changed for no reason and it's written poorly.

sigh. and then all of chb is retconned (or recycled if you’re feeling generous).

the ppl at camp accept him while his cabin gets built. pretty nice. then in boo nico reveals they got tired of him after a week–which is still summer–despite there being an influx of kids from all descents, some of whom would be weird or uncomfortable or whatever this justification is. that’s not even mentioning how percy’s own experiences (remember how he was ostracized…multiple times…) should have made them more accepting of nico.

why…was this necessary at all…? especially when u have an entirely different camp that treats nico as weird bc they didn’t have that good experience w him? this is really what gets me. if rick wanted to be lazy and repeat nico’s arc, he could’ve done so without retconning things.

for example, with the seven, leo, piper, jason, and maybe annabeth (she doesn’t have much to say abt nico in pjo), i could understand having animosity towards nico, as well as camp jupiter, but retconning established relationships to make ur only (at the time) queer character isolated and miserable only to then have his coming out be violent and traumatic is. well. bad! especially when the person who is w him for that experience is not someone he has built any sort of camaraderie w. nico isn’t choosing to trust jason, he’s being forced to.

and the whole nico-needs-to-learn-to-trust-ppl plot doesn’t work anyway bc of rick’s inconsistencies.

jason has a moment much like frank where he doesn’t want to go anywhere w nico bc nico is so weird and scary. nico has every right to pull himself away from ppl who treat him like he’s got something contagious. and there’s more:

“since when does jason defend nico,” as in they have shit on nico before and jason has not, in the past, defended nico. as in nico had every reason to not trust jason prior to this bc everyone, including jason, were talking shit behind his back. why are we acting like nico is being unreasonable? oh no, y’all are talking behind my back…clearly it’s my fault bc i push everyone away and that has nothing to do w ur behavior or anything…yes this is good writing.

and we’re supposed to believe that jason (and reyna and hedge and will) is the first person to be kind/reach out to nico, but we have this scene from botl where percy comforted nico and gave him a piece of his childhood back:

and this is after percy cleared the air to make sure nico knew he didn’t hate him and offered to make accommodations for nico at camp and then respected and understood why nico wouldn’t want to. like,

woah, you’re telling me that a character reaches out to nico after a traumatic experience in an act of kindness and this helps nico grow as a person? and it happens multiple times?! yeah, apparently rick and fandom have completely forgotten abt this (also hazel exists???). they’re even phrased similarly! “maybe it’s time to take a risk and embrace something you’ve pushed away.” furthermore, they both support their point by helping nico, percy by inviting nico into his home to enjoy cake and ice cream, jason by drinking from the chalice. once more w feeling: nico has been loved the entire goddamn time!

i get what rick was trying to accomplish w the whole cupid scene concept. which is that it’s okay to be gay and that it can feel very “othering” to be gay. nico has to accept himself in order to make friends. that’s what this

and this

are trying to say, right, but this doesn’t work when you’ve blatantly retconned established relationships to have characters push nico away for his powers/parentage/whatever. nico’s struggle is not an internal issue that can be solved by accepting himself, it’s an external issue caused by how other ppl treat him for his powers/parentage (which he has never been shown to reject btw).

the thing is, the powers-as-queerness metaphor only works when you don’t have, you know, characters who aren’t queer going through similar ostracization. not only was percy ostracized at chb in tlt for his powers/parentage (very similar to nico!), percy has a moment in this same book where his powers terrify annabeth, and then piper in the next book, in which he, you know, lets himself almost die to poison bc he feels like he “deserved it” for using those powers. again, this is not queer-coding for percy (unless…?). moreover, like i said, nico doesn’t reject his powers, so the whole queer-coding w powers and needing to accept himself is already iffy (...rejecting powers...hold the fuck up…percy isn’t…unless…). even the out-of-time metaphor doesn’t work bc it’s something he shares w hazel, who is not canonically queer (unless…?!). so, already, we’re on shaky metaphorical ground. all of this could work, theoretically, if combined w strong writing, but combined w the retconning and inconsistencies, this plotline makes no cohesive sense.

we’re supposed to believe that nico is the one pushing everyone away while they are secretly super supportive while simultaneously being shown that everyone talks and thinks shit that affirms nico’s thoughts abt them that makes him want to pull away. and then in boo we completely ignore that these ppl have been pushing nico away and suddenly everyone (reyna, hedge, will, etc) is supportive.

pick a struggle!

also nico’s coming out scene in boo sucked (yeah this is the segue).

this is the culmination of nico’s arc in hoo. he’s finally accepted himself enough to speak the truth without pressure. we ruined percy and nico’s established relationship for this. and they don’t even have a conversation. then nico walks over to will bc percy, “regular guy” percy, is “not [his] type.” don’t look too deep into that.

so, how would i fix the cupid scene? well.

there were a million different ways to write a better arc for nico and earn that cupid scene. for example, rick could’ve stuck to a plotline.

the trust plotline could’ve been good. bc this exact thing is what causes the accidental kidnapping situation in tlo. nico doesn’t trust percy enough to tell him the truth and chooses to manipulate and lie to percy instead. this choice is what sets up their conflict bc percy views this as betrayal (something that’s important to a guy who’s fatal flaw is loyalty).

it’s also interesting bc nico does choose to trust ppl in hoo; he eats the pomegranate seeds despite not knowing that someone is coming for him, he just trusts that someone will (we’re ignoring what boo says abt nico’s tartarus experience bc fun fact! that is also retconned). and it pays off, bc not only does he get saved, we see hazel and percy even willing to challenge the other members of the seven to make sure he gets saved. so, it’s not a lesson he’s already learned, it’s a lesson he’s learning. but, going back to the main question here, would the cupid scene still be necessary? was being dragged into tartarus and almost dying not enough spectacle?

regardless, my biggest problem w the cupid scene in all of this is that it gives the impression that u have to come out in order to have ppl love u and trust u. a much better message to send is that the ppl who love u will love u before and after u come out. no isolation necessary.

[ganondoodle]

still thinking about how even just the decision to basically act like the shiekah tech never existed is just ... so baffling to me

bc again you could have done all the sonau tech does with shiekah instead, and they were perfect to be explored more in a sequel, why wouldnt you grasp that potential, the literal building blocks for more??

if you are that tired of shiekah tech .. dont make it a fuckign sequel to the game prominently featuring it???? totk doesnt take place generations after botw in which things could have changed drastically, its just a few years afterwards??

you want to reuse the map and get rid of shiekah tech? ok fine take LINK into the past then and the focus is for you to find a way to return; do some neat twist where its revealed that link was the one who sealed gan bc he couldnt defeat him without zelda or something if you dare (they wouldnt)

want less work than that and still reuse the map and get rid of shiekah tech AND reuse characters? ok then make it some alternate universe thingy like majoras mask in which everythign is the same but also isnt, its weird and creepy how characters you thoguht you knew suddendly dont act like themselves, shiekah tech doesnt exist, malice is now miasma, etc, it would give reason to why you feel so much like something about this world is familiar yet also very wrong

as far as im aware every "sequel" we have had so far were either generations apart from the first one, some alternate universe or a different location altogether- in all of which its plausible that things are different, things seem weirdly familiar but also wrong, or that another continent just works different from hyrule

but totk does none of that, its supposedly just a few years after the first game, same world same character, but its BUILT like some strange jumbled mess of stuff from botw and new stuff out of nowhere that just .. doesnt fit, but feeling a strange sense of otherness, a déja vu of something you know but it acts off, like an imposter, thats NOT intentional and it shows, its a mess of botw stuff, from stuff that people missed from the old games and entirely new stuff; i dont doubt it CAN work but the way it turned out is like a mix of 3 different puzzles forced together and being told 'see it fits!' even tho you can clearly see the pieces dont look right in these places

again it feels like a sequel that desperately wants you to forget the first game happened, that anythign from it mattered at all

and that isnt really ... the sense of a sequel? why insist on it being one when it only creates problems? is it marketing?? just like it was marketing to call age of calamity a telling of what happened before botw but then it wasnt that at all and that is still the sole reason why i dislike it? bc i was lied to? totk is like 10000 times worse than that, its a main title and doesnt even have the excuse of yeah its basically an excuse to play all your fav characters in fun ways and the game beign well aware that being its main appeal; what is totk appeal? a toybox with botw aestethic and none of the flavor?

(on a sidenote; the sonau tech doesnt even .. matter? in botw at least calamity ganon was made of shiekah tech parts and him overtaking other tech is a big point, the sonau tech doesnt serve anything but .. idk minerus useless mech? gan doesnt even aknowledge it, he doesnt care, all it is is toys for the player, not link, but the player. the monsters mining the tech materials? what for? gan doesnt give a damn and they dont work for the yiga either??)

i said it before but it gives me the feeling that the way botw invited you to theorize, to look beneath the surface, the way it intrigued you and laid the groundwork for so many interesting things without denying anything.. was accidental? or perhaps put in the game without the directors noticing? i cant stop thinking about them saying sth like "after botw zelda wondered if the kingdom of hyrule needed to keep existing the way it had been before the calamity, but then totk happens" bc it just feels like they realized too late that botw naturally led into questioning the status quo and they scrambled to fit it back into a flat and boring road we have seen so many times before (or even worse really) with totk

zeldas character naturally leads into her questioning and reexamine their history and set of rules? we gotta teach her a lesson of why she is importante god given monarchy girl that has to keep it bc what if evil brown man shows up again for no reason

maybe im grasping at straws here but looking at it this way the sonau .. make more "sense"; the shiekah were a group that was under the rule of the royal family, and misstreated before (oh no look soemthing interesting) so they dont lend themselves well to be used for teaching zelda that lesson- the sonau however are tailored really to be just that; they are a supposedly godly race from the literal sky that founded this version of hyrule, that had tech even more advanced and better than the shiekah, she gets put in the past to meet the perfect god king of goodness personally, also his very fridgy wifey that zelda later replaces in a way, shes put there and treated like family and then gets to see just how evil that evil big man from the desert is, sonia is falcon-punched to death solely so zelda can feel obligated to take over her role, have her new, better 'family' hurt by gan; similarly so raurus sacrifice, look what a noble and good king he is, he payed the ultimate price to lock that evil man away, now zelda you cannot let their sacrifice go to waste, rebuild that divinely good kingdom like it was!!

and even though they go so much out of their way to put the cart back onto the rails of black and white-good and evil in an even flatter way than the old games, it still doesnt feel right, at least to me, it still feels like zelda shouldnt have gone along with all of that, it feels like even her character from botw was walked back entirely, except for the intro, it made her feel like a stranger to me-

because this is a sequel, i know this zelda, she wouldnt act like that after all that shes been through, this feels ... off

and it all just insulting to anyone who cared about botw more than surface level, or the zelda lore in general, i dont even care much about the timeline, but theres alot of lore and themes beyond it that felt ignored, especially so given that .. its a damn sequel, non AU, not generations apart, directly part 2-

but its not.

it even feels very "corporate", put zelda in a dress again, people liked that, put crazy abilities in the game to flashbang people with how insane it is even if its not the best for the gameplay or the story, put a new asthetic into it out of nowhere bc its 'new' and act like its been there the whole time, put gan in there bc people miss him and find him sexy even if his role is just as flat as that of an evil cloud monster-

*sigh*

you know, i saw a post that said aoc was like a bad fanfic (affectionate) and totk was like a bad fanfic (derogatory) and tbh thats like one of the best comparisons/summaries i have seen ..

[uchi4nlog]

♩ ࣭ ׄ ្͏ ͏͏ ͏͏ love so differently the same , taehyun.

gn!reader ، wc: 2k ، genre: sweet fluff, glettrs worthy ، tw: none.

note: listen to 'why' for a better reading.

how could such different people be brought together? it's funny how destiny works.

it starts with something simple as how much of a rational thinker he is than you. you always think with your heart, prioritizing emotions over any deep thoughts. but he thinks and analyzes everything with many perceptions until his final word.

he prefers sleeping with the ac off, argumenting that ‘it's too cold already for a human being to possibly live’. but you feel hot just by thinking about covering yourself with the big duvets. 

it's not that you two disliked each other's differences. if anything, it was what made you fall for him even more.

but isn't that the way people usually fall in love? by the curiosity of one another?

every time you talked to him, you found yourself drawn to his round shaped eyes. full of knowledge and also some sort of childish mischief. maybe it was the deep brown shade that colored his pupils, that makes everything and anything he says sounds so smart.

finding yourself more and more curious every day to know more about him, you started to make a list - of course, mentally. you didn’t have the energy to write every single intriguing thing about him down on a piece of paper - of all the things that made him so especially beautiful to you.

maybe it all started with his very unique mannerisms. a cute scratch on the back of his neck every time he was unsure of something or just shy about a quick remark you made. the adorable and sweet sound of his laugh, that could make you do anything to play it on repeat. the passion and glitter on his eyes every time he talked about something that he found so interesting. oh, and you could also add another thing onto that: when he loves something, he loves it with all of his heart. there wasn’t a fifty fifty percent for him. he will either love it or dislike it.

and just maybe, that was what made taehyun love you so much. the confidence and sureness that he loved you more than anything in this world.

little did you know that in the same way you love to pay attention to what makes you two different, so did he. 

secretly learning how to cook your favorite homemade food, listening to this one album that you can’t stop talking about, memorizing your favorite colors, how you tend to get things easily confused and need to get it explained more than once. nothing goes unnoticed by him. 

taehyun loves how you could bring out a new side of him. a side that he wanted to keep for you and only to you. he could stay being ‘cold as antarctica’ to the world. he would be saving all the kisses on the forehead, sweet nothings and laughs at midnight for you.

★ taglist: @impureperhaps @sunoooism @itgirlgyu @mazeinthemoon @hyukult

★ status: taglist and requests currently open! send me an ask or comment to be added.

© gyuletters, 2023 - do not repost, copy, or translate. // just wanted to say that this fic is very highly self-based, meaning: i wrote it for myself bcs my love for taehyun is unbearable and i wish i could date him. tysm for coming to my ted talk LMAO. tysm for reading it until the end. i really hope you liked it. ilyy~!!

with love,

star. xoxo

[girlboypersonthingy]

could I request a very fluffy keith x reader headcanons where they're having a bonding moment (hehe, I cradled you into my arms) because they ended up on a planet during a mission and are waiting for rescue? you don't have to do this if you don't like it of course!

HELLO YOU ARE MY FIRST REQUEST ANON AND ILYSM 🥰 yes I love love love this idea. Also, i had a hard time writing this as headcanons so I decided to write it as like a headcanon/imagine hybrid kinda thing. I hope that’s cool… sorry I’m new to writing this stuff. ALSO this turned out so long I got carried away soRRYYY. Enjoy~

Ps: plz plz plz request more. Somebody, anybody? Thnx 💋

So…y’all are stuck on a planet where the atmosphere is mostly made up of sulfur so it’s not breathable for humans like you

Keith would be pacing non stop, trying to get in contact with the team. He’s so mad his face is nearly as red as his armor.

You are much less worried, knowing that brainiac Pidge would find y’all eventually

It was supposed to be an easy mission, just responding to a distress signal. You and Keith were sent together bc you two work really well together, but when the galra swooped in, you knew it was a setup to steal the red lion.

Of course, Keith took them all out but not without red taking a couple heavy blows

Red needed to rest now that the imminent threat had been neutralized. The lion fought hard without help from the others and would not respond to either of you…and Keith was not handling it well

“C’mon red! You’re gonna give up on me now?! Ugh, you really are the most temperamental lion! You’re such a brat…”

The tense but strong chemistry between Keith and his lion was always something that intrigued you. They really were meant to be.

He eventually gives up trying to talk to red, sitting beside you on the ground.

You and Keith weren’t really close but you trained together nearly every day and you physically complimented each other very well. You always had each others back.

Besides training, you didn’t see him all that much. He likes to skip meals and take late night showers. It’s almost like he’s been avoiding you for a while now

With you around, Keith is all bite and no bark. Sure, he’ll grab and push you around while training but actually having a conversation with you??? Hell nah. Keith no likey talking.

He usually corrects the others’ form and posture and gives advice when training with the them, but not with you. Instead he gives you a lot of thumbs up and small, proud smirks.

Whenever you try to talk to him, you’re lucky if you get any words out of him. Usually, it’s just hums of agreement or head nods.

You think Keith doesn’t like you or finds you annoying with how quiet he is around you

Not having the same armor as the paladins, you were finding your suit to be too thin for the climate on this planet. You were shivering.

Keith notices this immediately but stays still, unsure of how to help you. If he had his jacket rn, he’d totally toss it at you nonchalantly

And suddenly he’s grabbing your hand and pulling you off the ground and along with him.

“Where are we going?” He doesn’t respond, just let’s your hand go but keeps walking, expecting you to follow and you do.

He glances back to check that you’re still there and notices you limping ever so slightly. You’re trying not to let him see this bc you don’t want to piss him off more than he already is.

With Keith piloting, there was no where for you to be in his lion besides standing behind his chair. As he dodged attacks from the galra, you had been thrown around a bit.

He stops walking, making you nearly crash into the back of him.

He turns to you, refusing to even look at you before he sighs loudly. You feel guilty, not wanting to burden him with taking care of you.

“You’re hurt.” “No I’m fine.” “No, you’re limping.” “It’s fine, I can keep walking.”

He turns his back to you and just stands there, hands at his sides. You’re unsure of what to do or say until he looks back at you with a straight face.

“Hop on my back.” “No, Keith. I can walk.” “Just let me carry you.” “No. I said I’m fine. Really, I-“ He cuts you off.

“God dammit, (Y/N), you’re just as stubborn as red! You’re limping and you’re shivering and you’re lying to my face about it. I can tell you need some help, IM OFFERING YOU HELP. Now let me give you a lift to some shelter or SO HELP ME-“

You’re stunned, not because he was lowkey being an ass but because he’s never said so many words to you at one time.

Keith is the epitome of “if a boy is being mean or bullying you, it’s bc he likes you”

He’s talking to you like he was when he first found the red lion and was like “it’s me…Keith. I AM YOUR P A L A D I N.”

Mf is lowkey so mean to you sometimes but he’s not trying to be mean, you just make him feel weird and tingly inside and it embarrasses him and that makes him mad. He’s mad that he doesn’t know how to properly communicate with you without sounding stupid. He’s mad at himself, not at you tho

Dude just doesn’t know how to deal with his feelings

You hop up on his back, quickly wrapping your arms around his neck and your legs around his waist. His hands grip the back of your knees and he trudges forward.

He carries you until he finds a small dim cave, hoping the shelter would keep you warm. He lets go of your legs without warning, making you slip off him. As you land on your feet, you hiss at the pain in your knee.

As he turns to you, you can barely see him but his face looks different now.

You can see his eyes are wide and his mouth is slightly hanging open

He never looks you in the eye and always has an annoyed and smug look on his face when you’re around. So seeing his face soften with concern and guilt for YOU made you freeze up.

“S-sorry.” He mumbles before holding out his hand to you. You’re confused like ??? What is this? What do you want me to do with this?

If there were more light in here, you’d see his face turning red as he’s stepping closer to you until you’re side by side. He slips his arm around your waist and gently lowers you to the ground.

As your butt meets the ground, you stretch out your leg and rub your knee, huffing in pain. Now that he knew you were hurt, no reason to act like you weren’t.

He sat along side you, your bodies still up against each other. He moves his arm from your waist to your shoulders, pulling you close.

Keith never touched you unless you were training together or you were in danger and needed his help so this physical contact with him made your heart go AFTHNJDFH ❤️‍🔥

The piggy back ride and the helping you to the ground were normal for him but him holding you close like this…omfg

Keith is slowly shutting down from embarrassment and nervousness. You can hear his breathing speed up as he’s praying that the others will find y’all soon or he might pass out

You lean into him, shivering still. His hand rubs up and down your arm in an attempt to warm you up.

Noticing that this isn’t working, he lets you go and scoots to sit behind you. He pulls you against his chest as he wraps his arms around you, your arms now pinned under his.

“Thanks.” You say to him before leaning back against him more, letting your head fall back on his shoulder.

Just as you’re getting comfy…

“Keith? Come in, Keith? Hello?”

You can faintly hear Shiro’s voice over the comms in Keith’s helmet. You tilt your head back more to look up at Keith’s face, he looks relieved but slightly disappointed…as if he didn’t want this moment to end so soon.

As he responds, he keeps his arms around you tightly, his hands gently rubbing your upper arms and you just cant look away from him now.

He held you against him for what felt like hours but it was really only like 10 minutes until Lance pokes his head in the cave, a loud “AAWWWW” coming from him.

Keith tilted his head back and let out a loud groan. Of all people to come save y’all…LANCE???

“They’re cold.” “Oh suuurrre.” “THEY ARE! Tell him, (Y/N).” “Yeah, I’m freezing.”

Lance flashes you both a snarky grin before Keith stands, pulling you up slowly.

“Then if it’s no big deal, I can carry (Y/N) back.” “No!” Keith responds quickly before he picks you up bridal style.

You’re surprised he can handle your weight in this position. Sure he was strong but piggy back would’ve been an easier option.

But you weren’t complaining…and neither was he ❤️‍🔥 (and Lance is lowkey like 🥹 as he follows behind you guys)

[fourstarsoutofnine]

I'm so sorry if you've gotten too many Four requests already, but I SWEAR YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE I TRUST ENOUGH TO DO THIS 😭🥺

anyways! i have this scenario in mind: Four working on fixing/making a blade or he's relaxing and he's wearing a sleeveless shirt, so reader gets to see his arms and holy shit there's no way those arms weren't chiseled by the goddesses themselves so reader immediately gets a dumb dreamy smile with heart eyes and all. So while in their very clear admiration and fawning over Four (Four is the only one that hasn't noticed), when the smith approaches them they end up absent mindedly blurting out a very... not so subtle compliment of what they've been looking at on him for a while now. Feel free to decide what happens next.

whether Four and reader are already in a relationship is up to you but i think it'd be funnier if reader just has the biggest crush on him and he had NO idea gshdjshshdjsjdjsj

A/n:I genuinely think yall are mindreaders bc I’ve been wanting to write this too😭I’ve also been thinking about how he’d be literally so buff👁️👁️also thank you so much for entrusting me with this🫡four is one of my favorites and I always enjoy writing for him so don’t worry!

Forge

Four x reader

You don’t know how you ended up in this situation.

Actually, yes you do. You’re just a little foggy. I mean, how could you not be? Hot room, steam coming from the heated weapons dipped into the water….

Your boyfriend standing there working tirelessly, and doing so while looking effortlessly beautiful.

Let’s set the scene. You’re in the forge, in his Hyrule. He was beyond elated to be back in his own forge again. He figured he could finally make a weapon the champion couldn’t break, and it’s exactly what he was attempting to do now. You had a front row seat to the show, too. Blacksmithing always intrigued you, and even more so after you got with the smith himself, so you were more than excited to see him in action. You just didn’t account for how little you’d actually pay attention.

I mean, how could you? You sure tried, but your mind was so full yet so empty at the same time as you watched him work.

You didn’t understand how someone could look so perfect. All you knew was the strength that lay under his skin could only have been put there by the goddesses themselves. You were just delighted to have seen it in your lifetime.

Sweat beaded on his face, seeping into the headband he kept wrapped around him in hopes both hair and sweat wouldn’t fall into his eyes. He raised the mallet in the air and it came crashing down onto the hot metal in what would’ve been a loud bang, but you were too focused on the way he moved to care about it. Everything was muffled around you and it seemed you two could’ve been the only people in the world. Your heart pounded against your chest from either the heat of the fire or the man in front of you, you neither knew nor cared. He was like a song, you determined. The way the strength of his body was the perfect tune to the lyrics of his wonderful mind and soul would be one you could listen to over and over—and the tapestry of beautiful and poetic sentiments you thought of him was one woven so thick you’d be able to sleep under only it during the coldest of winters.

You’d been stuck in your own head about it for so long that you gained a lovesick smile. The thought of being held by him, kissed by him, or Hylia—even spoken to gave you that giddy feeling in your chest, like the butterflies swirling there wanted to fly out the moment you opened your mouth. He’d been watching you for some time, wondering when it was you’d notice he was looking at you. Finally his words broke through.

“Y/n..!” He laughed. “Hey, I’m talking to you..” he tilted his head to look at you with a quirked smile. “You alright..?”

“Huh?? Oh—yeah..” you sunk in on yourself at being caught daydreaming, face blooming a bright red with the blush extending into your ears and neck. “I’m fine…”

“What’s on your mind, dove? Huh?” He rested his cheek in his hand. “What brought out that smile you had earlier?”

Oh goddess, oh jeez— “uhm—uh—it’s-um—“ your words only became more jumbled as his smile got wider. His eyes filled with that same look yours had been only moments ago. He was just as in love. Your brain hit the panic button. You were no longer in control. “You. Your arms. You’re hot.”

His eyes widened and he leaned back in a loud laugh. Your cheeks puffed up and you looked down, embarrassed. When his laughter died down a bit, he walked over to you. “Oh, goodness, I love you.” He stood on his tiptoes and caught you up in a kiss. You melted against him and wrapped your arms around him, kissing back. His snaked around your waist and held you firmly there. When you pulled away he got a mischievous grin. “So my arms, huh?~”

“Oh shut up!” You shoved him away, covering your face. He just kept laughing. It’d be all too fun to tease you in the future, and you knew exactly what you were in for…

You didn’t exactly mind.

[shentheauthor]

I cannot resist, but headcanons on the Harbingers' types? Like what they would like in a S/O? 🤭

Crabsolutely, friend

Gender neutral s/o, no content warnings

Pierro:

Someone calm

Preferably smart too

Like someone he can play chess with

And just drink tea quietly with

This man needs some peace in his life lmao

Please braid his hair, he is touch starved and needs affection, but he’s old and he can’t say it out loud

Capitano:

Someone who can protect themself

He will def protect you, but when he isn’t there, he wants to know you’ll be safe

Also, he would love a sparring partner as well as a romantic one

If you can keep up with him, color him impressed

I also feel like he isn’t much of a talker, so if you’re cool with just hanging out in silence, he will be drawn to you

Dottore:

A test subject /j

It would actually probably start out that way 😭😭

If you can hold an intelligent conversation and keep him amused, tho, he will stop trying to experiment on you

He will explode with joy if you ask him about his work

And if you listen and remember what he says? Whipped

Basically a good listener and someone who doesn’t mind his psychopathic tendencies lmao

Hell if you’re a bit of a murderous gremlin yourself, he’ll be even more into you

Bc then you can do horrible fucked up experiments ✨together✨

Columbina:

Someone cute who can sing duets with her

She wouldn’t mind whether you’re loud or quiet

She can put up with both

She isn’t super picky about partners, but a good singing voice is a green flag for her

She’d already be intrigued if you aren’t afraid of her, but if you don’t underestimate her either, you’ve definitely got an interested columbina on your hands

Arlecchino:

Probably someone interested in her work

She has high standards tho

Good listener, can cook, willing to adjust your schedule for her, good with kids, but also willing to harshly punish subordinates, etc

She wants someone like her

But maybe a bit nicer lmao

Pulcinella:

Like Pierro, he prefers quiet people

Someone willing to help him deal with stress without adding onto that stress

Also he wants someone good with kids

He will bring his partner with him to visit family and friends, so a social person is better

Just someone he can be quietly domestic and soft with

Gilf moment Fr

Scaramouche

I’m never gonna stop including him and Signora

Anyway tho, he wants someone quiet, but he will actually be somewhat pleasantly surprised if you talk back to him

You’d have to be careful, but he will like you if you can keep up with his rudeness and clap back without fear

Bonus points if you’re strong. He doesn’t want to “coddle” his partner, so he wants someone who can take care of themself

He would also want someone who can read him well. Understanding his moods is a must.

It’s hard to get him to open up, but he would really want someone willing to love him completely without leaving him

Abandonment issues go brrr

Sandrone:

A puppet

Like literally

But if she had to choose a partner who is a normal human, she would want someone who doesn’t care if she’s possessive

She is kind of a yandere, so if you’re into that, she is into you

Bonus points if you’re willing to cook for her

She forgets to eat a lot, and someone who takes care of her would be appreciated

Also, if you’re interested in her work

The way to an autistic’s heart is through the special interest /srs

Signora:

Someone who will love her unconditionally

Someone who doesn’t treat her like a monster

Someone who isn’t afraid of her

She would also love someone strong and smart

Preferably witty too

Like if she can have a healthy banter with you

Her type is Rostam, but if you aren’t Rostam, that’s ok

A strong and protective partner is perfect for her

She can take care of herself just fine, but the feeling of being cared about is unmatched

I miss her so much raaaahhhh

Pantalone:

He would want someone who lets him spoil them

Genuinely

He will lavish you with gifts if you will let him

ALSO, intelligence is a must

He doesn’t have patience for dull conversation

If finances bore you, he actually doesn’t mind

He knows everyone is different

As long as you don’t steal from him, he won’t care

Someone who cares enough to help him de-stress after work is a green flag

He would also love it if you can cook or sew, and is actually open to learning your hobbies if they interest him

Please play board games with him, he’d be so happy

Also he wants a good listener who will hear him ramble without complaining

Tartaglia:

Do you like kids?

Are you open to learning to cook?

Can you spar with him and provide a challenge?

If the answer to all of these questions is “yes,” congrats, you are exactly his type

He doesn’t care much about looks, he really just wants someone who’s fun and loves his family

Extroverts are perfect for him

He would prefer a partner who’s okay with drinking, bc Snezhnaya go brrr (literally)

But if you aren’t comfortable with that, that’s okay

Definitely the most fun to be with if you’re outgoing, so he would want you to be adventurous too

He would also like talkative people, bc then he can listen to you ramble <3

Rule #1 tho: don’t be afraid of him. Treat him like a person, not a weapon

He doesn’t mind being a weapon, but if his partner is soft with him and doesn’t demand anything, that is ideal

I love him sm

I love doing these lmao. It’s kinda cringe, but it’s self indulgent and I like exploring their characters like this

I’m probably gonna create an ask blog specifically for this sometime soon

[collidescopeeyes]

would you be willing to do an f!reader and an unbound thresh (cinematic one) HCs about a researcher of the Shadow Isles (some sort of kind priestess type) who somehow managed to capture his interest bc her soul is unable to be caged and he's intrigued by her fearlessness...

Thresh with researcher!reader

- From the moment you meet it is the world's most intense game of cat and mouse, except you're both convinced you're the cat

- Studying the effects of the black mist on souls is your life's work–it’s an utterly fascinating and unique form of magic and if it can be understood, maybe it can be cured. That being said, studying it isn't exactly easy. The Isles are dangerous at the best of times and much of it has been ravaged by time–you’ve reached a dead end with simple observational means and were hoping you could learn more about the mist and what caused it by speaking to the shades bound to it. Some of them predate the mist after all–surely one of them has something to point you in the right direction?

- Your first encounter with Thresh is actually before he's unbound. Most souls you encounter are either violently insane, largely incoherent or generally uncooperative, so meeting one that can not only hold a coherent conversation but one so knowledgeable about the mist is like a dream come true! The fact that he has a flaming skull for a head and you're pretty sure his lamp is screaming is a secondary concern, you're getting good info here.

- He's very amused by your enthusiasm and probably indulges your curiosity far more than he normally would–it’s pretty rare he meets anyone who doesn't run screaming (which is fair, he’ll acknowledge that). You're the most entertaining thing he's seen in centuries, and waiting around for the Sentinels to kill Viego has been so terribly boring–so when you start packing up your notes and making to leave…well, he can't very well have that, can he?

- Honestly the worst part about having your soul ripped out of your body by ethereal chains is that it really disrupts your train of thought, and you had a great question about interactions with restoration magic you were about to ask. You have a brief moment of looking at your own body, and then there's a flash of light and you're back to normal, at which point you hurriedly thank him for the interview and hightail it the fuck out of there.

- Thresh meanwhile is stunned. Your soul was brilliant, blindingly radiant in a way he's never seen before. Trying to lash it to his lamp was like trying to hold oil with water–it just couldn't find purchase, and by the time he realised what had happened you were already gone. He gives chase, or course, but you survived this far for a reason and you're soon out of his reach, bound as he is to the Isles

- He's obsessed. He wants nothing more than to take that perfect, beautiful soul of yours and bleed it until it's as black and twisted as his. He stalks the Isles hoping to run into you again, but no such luck–still, he's had plans in motion to free himself from the Isles for a long time, and now he just has to wait. He can be very patient, when he wants to be.

- Meanwhile, you're an ocean away writing a dissertation on the Shadow Isles and the metaphysical properties of the mist, having a great time.

- He finds you in a library after he's unbound by complete coincidence, but he is elated. You don't recognize him, of course–he looks human, and you're too focused on your research to bother with some random stranger. Low-key he tries to charm you at first, but you're just like ‘sir I'm trying to work here’ so he has to reintroduce himself. Immediate fascination from you–how does a soul get free of the mist? Is he actually human now, or is it a shapeshifting thing? And oh, actually, could he finish explaining the properties of the waters of life? Your last conversation kind of got cut short when he tried to stab you. Oh no you're not upset about it, most souls you spoke to tried to stab you at the start of the conversation, he was actually very polite!

- He laughs so hard you get kicked out of the library. You suggest coffee instead. He agrees. He doesn't even need to eat or drink.

- His plan is to feed you tidbits of information about the Isles and the mist to lull you into a false sense of security and eventually tempt you into his clutches–after all, if he can't imprison you by force, he could chip away at you until you went to your demise willingly and unwittingly, and he relishes the challenge.

- Meanwhile you're thinking ‘this is great, I'm learning so much! He's definitely going to try and kill me at some point but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it!’

- Normally the idea of breaking someone's spirit is satisfying to him, but the longer he spends with you the more the idea loses its shine–after all, you're so much more entertaining when you're lively like this, and the thought of your eyes going dull and hopeless like all of his other victims makes him oddly disappointed. But still, human lives are so short, and you've become rather dear to him–the best place for someone as special as you would be his lamp, where he can keep your soul safe and enjoy your company for all eternity~

- There's something fundamentally wrong with this man if you couldn't tell. He's possessive, obsessive, and he thinks morals are an unfortunate condition other people suffer from. He has no delusions about what sort of man he is: in life, he was essentially exiled to guarding the vault in total isolation purely because members of his order found him off-putting–there’s something about him that's just Wrong, and he knows that. There was no hiding it when he was human, much less with this veneer of humanity he now wears–but for whatever reason, you don't flinch away from him. Poor sweet girl that you are, you seem to be under the impression he's a person. But still, if you decide you hate him, you probably won't talk to him anymore and that would be a tragedy. Ergo, he’s trying to be Good so you trust him, but he only abstractly understands what Good is meant to be. Surely if he only targets people who deserve it that counts? He doesn't even kill them! He just, y'know, traps them in his lantern and subjects them to untold horrors for a little bit, but he lets them go after and in his experience that seems to scare people pretty straight. He's doing a public service! He's practically a saint!

- Low-key he's stalking you. Like he just shows up where you happen to be whenever he's not off doing crimes against humanity, but honestly in the grand scheme of things it's pretty low on the list of concerns–after all, he's a thousand year old immortal wraith, and while you're pretty sure he's not planning on murdering you anymore, his disregard for social conventions that aren't immediately useful to him ranks somewhere between ‘maybe we can work on a a version of our relationship where I don't get trapped in your lamp for all eternity?’ and ‘when I put you in the special thanks section of my publication, do I just call you Thresh?’ on the list of conversations you ought to have with him.

- He can be incredibly charismatic when he wants to be, so to you he comes off as very gentlemanly if a bit melodramatic. Overprotective like you would not believe, but he generally cedes to your requests and it's sort of endearing how invested he is in staying in your good graces. Weirdly intense at times, but he's an ancient undead wearing the thin veneer of a man so you figure that's to be expected. Still, he's very polite and considerate, and while he's definitely trying to con you into some kind of supposedly benevolent eternal damnation, he's also helping you proofread your paper, so y'know it's actually a pretty decent deal.

[tartigglez]

"do this again...?"

zhongli x gn!reader

・❥・fluff fluff!

・❥・1.5k

・❥・helloooo i'm suffering an ungodly writers block rn so im really sorry if this is a MESS, i really don't mean for it to be sigh.. also inspired by that art where zhongli is fangirling over baizhus hair and going "so soft!" and then starts scrubbing his own head with a bar of soap (i can't find the link but if someone finds it lmk)

・❥・momentary dragon zhong!! modern au, readers a bit cuddly at the start lol, might not be suitable for all readers bc reader is a haircare nerd!! reader swears (this is a general warning for all my fics atp), i think thats it?? lmk??

zhongli was always put together, well presented, clean shaven, and always smelled of mahogany and vanilla, in fact, these were some of his most admirable traits. however, there was one thing that always puzzled you a little. 

when he was in his dragon form, zhonglis hair was always soft and silky, and looked perfectly healthy. but of course, nowadays it is rare for him to be in this form, and so he usually stays in mortal form for long periods of time in order to blend in with the general population of liyue. when in this form however, zhonglis hair is brittle and dry, seemingly with little to no explanation as to why. 

“zhongli,” you whisper against the fabric of a hoodie you insisted he buy (which he rejected initially. if it were up to him you would both be dressed in formal attire at almost all times of the day) “what’s up with your hair?”

“whatever do you mean?” he asks, large palm slowly rubbing the small of your back. he tilts his chin down to look at you as you rest your eyes, laying on his chest and fiddling with the ends of his ponytail.

“don’t you think its a little frizzy?” you ponder, moving your hand from his hair to instead grip on to his hoodie, fingers interlacing with the soft fabric as you sit up a little to meet his eyes. he would never admit to it, but watching you grip on to his clothing, looking all cozy was making the article grow on him, plus he knew you were a little sleepy, given you had gotten home and immediately insisted he cuddle with you. 

“is that supposed to be an insult?” he laughs, moving to a straighter sitting position, and allowing you to adjust by placing your legs either side of his, stretching them out behind him and tucking your head in to the gap between his shoulder and neck. 

“m’no, just an observation” you mumble against him. "it's always so healthy n-" you yawn mid-sentence, heaving your arms up around his neck, playing with the few stray hairs that sit at the back of his neck. "it's always helfy when y'do the thing… with the horns and the tail- n'stuff" you smack your lips a little every few words, eyelashes fluttering against the small portion of his collarbone which is exposed from under his hoodie. 

"you're tired dear, you should sleep" he says gently, palms still rubbing up and down your back. 

"buh if I sleep you'll-" you yawn again, unsurprisingly "you'll go n'do work or somethin'" 

"who told you that, hm? I've done all my work for the day. I'm more than content to lay here with you," he whispers "besides, I'm intrigued to hear more of your sleepy opinions on my appearance"

“don’t have any opinions, only facts,” you giggle, placing a soft kiss on his skin before putting your cheek down against it, closing your eyes. “trust, i’ll get to the bottom of this t’morrow” you smile and yawn another time.  

“fine, although i don’t think there's any problem with my haircare methods. rest well dear” he says, hands stilling on your back as the room falls to a desolate silence, only the sound of his breathing lulling you to rest. 

brightness is normally a positive thing, but not when it's hitting your eyes so early in the morning, and the bed is so empty. shouldn’t zhongli be here? you yawn, opening your eyes a little more to see the whole room, and no zhongli in sight. however, your ears quickly hear it, quiet liyuean opera music coming from somewhere downstairs. he has already started his day. 

you slowly, but surely make your way downstairs, rubbing your eyes with the back of your hands. you stumble upon zhongli in the living room, a computer on the coffee table in front of him, shirt sleeves rolled up and the muscles of his arms flexing as he types furiously, a puzzled expression lacing his features. 

“you’re awake, darling. did you sleep okay?” he asks, eyes parting with the laptop to meet yours.

“like a baby” you giggle as you take small steps over to him, tiredly flopping on the couch beside him, hugging one of his arms and looking up at him. “whatcha lookin at?” you ask, closing your eyes and taking in his scent, and the environment around you, the twang of the guzheng and soft air of flutes coming through the speaker in the corner of the room, and the feeling of his arm moving slowly from your grip, instead snaking its way around your shoulders 

“haircare methods,” he sighs, “i think i’ve realised the error of my ways”

“and that is…?” you raise an eyebrow at him, and he ultimately just looks embarrassed, cheeks flaring a slight shade of pink. 

“well, it would seem that the soap i use is rather abrasive” he sighs, leaning back in the chair and opening up a tab on his browser to reveal a branded bar of soap. soap. not shampoo, not conditioner, but soap. 

“soap?!” you ask, face contorting as if you had just had the shock of a lifetime. he nods sheepishly as you stare at him, moving up from your seat to get on your feet, grabbing his hands to drag him with you. 

“come”

“where are we going?” he asks, smiling a little as if to be doting upon your sudden investment in his hair.

“bathroom” you say, dragging him up the stairs, feet thumping as you march up the stairs. 

“what are we doing?” he inquires, following you into the bathroom, chuckling at you.

"reciting an extensive apology to your fucking hair follicles" you stare at him, face dead serious. your entire body is turned in the other direction, pulling out a wicker basket full of all your haircare products. 

"language" he reprimands, folding his arms and taking a seat on the edge of the bathtub.

"fuck fuck, shit fuck" you giggle, trying your hardest to invoke a reaction as you pull out different conditioning products from the basket. he just sighs. if it's you, such profanities can be excused in private, he supposes.

"don't be rude" he says, but he's secretly holding a laugh, watching you pull out some sort of deep conditioning pack, then squishing the liquid around in the packet.

"i'll be rude if i so wish" you taunt, sticking your tongue out before bursting out in laughter. "okay, sit on the floor" you say, setting the conditioning pack on the edge of the bath.

"excuse me?" he questions, standing up beside you, suddenly seeming a little taller than you remember. 

"you heard me, head over the edge of the tub, chop chop" 

"what on earth…?" he questions, kneeling with his head hanging fair over the bathtub.

"trust the process" you say, grabbing a towel from the rail on the other side of the room, putting it over his shoulders. you gently pull his hair tie out, watching the brown locks fall on to the towel.

"is this necessary?" he whines, tensing up a little when you move his hair off the towel, so that it went straight down in to the tub. 

"yes," you answer flatly, "now close your eyes" you say turning on the shower head. 

"why?" he asks, jumping a little in shock when you run the water over his head.

"too hot?" you ask, soaking his hair from scalp to tip. he shakes his head, and he's audibly breathing a little louder when the water runs down his cheeks. immediately after he feels you dump some sort of thick substance on his head. 

"what on earth is that?" he asks, watching your hands reach to rub the mask down through his hair. 

"conditioning mask" you answer, rinsing your hands under the tap, washing off the excess. “stay here” you instruct. 

“my love, where are you going?” zhongli sighs, but you’ve already ran to the bedroom, grabbing a t-shirt to wrap around his hair.

“okay, lift your head up” you smile, and he awkwardly complies, trying his very best not to get water everywhere as you get his hair together to go inside the tee. he stands on his feet once again, before sitting on the toilet seat, legs awkwardly jutting out in to the room as you clean up any spilled water.

after you finish wiping around the edge of the bath, you look up at him from where you are, and a fountain of giggles spills over somewhere within you. you simply cannot stop laughing at him, meanwhile zhongli is staring at you like a wet dog. frowning, he meets your eyes.

“do we have to do this again?” 

sfw masterlist || taglist: @lioria @celestetalkstoomuch

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